The Sun. — London, England, 1809-10-11 00:00:00

.... Y :4. 4 1 lOr.tunate events, purchased with the ever increasing diminution of Their army, whither could they carry them ? To burn the French squadron ? to effect tins, it was necessary to take Antwerp. But in fine, the French squadron being taken and burned, it remains to be known whether such an opera) ion was worth what it has cost, 'and whether it be very prudent to go to an expence of many men, and, of 40 or 50 millions, in order to occasion one's enemy a loss of. between 16 and 20 millions. But the ships at Antwerp could not be taken.— They did not depend upon the occupation of Flush ing; upon that of . Walcheren, .nor lof any island ; they depended upon the Continent. It was neces sary to take Antwerp ! The ,English, who for this long time past have 'not travelled upon the Conti nent, consulted informatiOn collected six years ago, . end imagined that Antwerp w as still an open town, as it was when it was only a trading port ; they did not take into their calculation the works of these lat ter years, especially those which the Emperor has caused to he raised, sine:: his journey to Antwerp.— Upon establishing a dock-yard in'that town, 'he , or dared its fortifications to be again raised; it is now , surr.utt4t - d with a• bastioned r rampart. The ditch filled with water which covers this raMpart, has been repaired ; theleft of theiown is covered by an iintnehse inundation, which removes the approaches upwards of 1500 fathoms; the right is supported by, the citadel,' which is a fine.ilece of fortification ; up on this front, several works have been established; earning others, a fint , half-moon with its countersCaFp. Upon the left bulk of the Scheldt there are no houses, but the Head of Flanders has been re4.sta blished, and its works are proteEted . by an inunda tion of 2000 fathoms in extent.—The English could sot, therefore, take Antwerp without besieging it, without met hoJically opening the trenches, without working on through the inundations and marshes, in short, without having invested the town ; and if they must' invest it on both sides, they would re quire to have two armies: Ist, One between the Head of Flanders and the town .of . St. Nicholas . , opposite to Brussels and to the road of France; in deed, we know no General bold enough to take this position wittnesi than 80,000 infOritri and between 8 and•10,000' cavalry, since he must have to with stand the army which should arrive from 'France; and the troops .should stretch out froM the Head of Flanders, that i 5 to sly; the whole garrison of Ant verp, Which in a combined attack, Would sally out on' that side ; 2d, On the side of the town, the in vestment Could not reasonably take place with an army ,of lesS' than 40,000 men, having-in front a cOrog of observation; to keep in check the dully of the Duke of Valmy, assembled at Maestricht, which would draw near Antwerp, and having another. corps towards Bergen-op- . Zooin against the Dutch. It would, therefore, have been easier for'loi d Chat ham to take Bi - ussels, to march against Ghent; and . to advance as far as Flanders, leaving Antwerp and the French army behind him, than to undertake to . invest Antwerp and besiege it. This much with regard to the land side: On'the side of the river, the following are the ob stacles which most have stopped the English : ' •tst. Fort Frederic and Fort Doel, each mounting fifteen 36-pounders ; after these, Fort Ldlo arid the Fort 'of Lief kenshisek ; each mounting sixty 36- pounders, and ten mortars; and behind, a line of tighrj , gun-boats and pinnaces, mounting two him drt.-d t'4-pounders. Nutt:, every sensible man who litYitY.vs that there is only, a cfis/r.;,e 000 1,1111)115s betwci::::n Fort Lilo ;:nd tffe Fpr, of T..i.efke.i4ho4, 5• - • *Mai iS' Opipsite to it, -paceiveS 6)m this passage c.rinot be fore. With e-i' o ard to tire-ships; it is - well known that lire-stiipS and infernal machines are inetieCtual. The infernal machine which was let oft at St. Maio had no effect; these sorts of explo.ions were never able to shake a rampart. An estacado had been established, wtrich secured our gun-boats hum tite.ships.• In fine, we had also , fii - e;.strips; sixte,n were.alrcady in Readiness; and We were go ing to avail ourselves of the first fivourabitf ocC3sion to send them against - the English. Besides, to make us e r,i tire-ships;: it would have been necessary to approach within. 500 fathoms df the town, since from •Lillo to Antwerp-' the Scheldt makes . tour elbows, which would have pre%ented fire-stops from directed front any g reater distance. ()wine te:i side in like manner no success could be belted tor ; but admitting that by the combination of the effects of land and sea, Lido and Lief kens , bock had been carried, which supposes tw9 regular sieges, the enemy would directly after have, met with three ether barriers to be forced ; the. P eatl Fort, Fort St. Philip, and Fort St. Mary. All these forts are covered by inundatii,ns, and each of them would, have required a separate siege. These dif ferent operations could not haVe taken place without 1 losing forty days more, and supposing that by the loth' of October the land and sea fortes had been able to approach within 2000 fathoms of Antwerp, they still required three months more to take the town. With regard to the squadron, it was en tirely shut up within the town, up and down the river, protecting Antwerp, and proteCted by it. The taking of Antwerp was, therefore, a thing im possible for Lord Chatham, an operation much more difficult to be etfetted than the/occupation of a guar ' ter of France. However, the following was the system of the French army ; from the 15th of August three corps were formed. The Prince of Ponte Corvo was at Anti' erp with 30,000 men, iiationilguards, regulars, and ,Dutch troops: The Duke of Cornegliano was at Ghent with the corps ot the Head "of Fianders, con sisting of 25,000 Inert ; the Duke of Istria was at Lisle with 20,000 Men. We should have let the English, had they. serious- ly presented themselVes, cross the channel of Ber gen-op-Z.,um, stretch out beyond the inundation of Lido and march against Antwerp; the Duke of Cornegliano would have proceeded towards the Head of Flanders, and whilst the Eogli.ih would hav4 been m a king their . dispositions to invest Antwerp from fort Lido to the citadel, the PrioCe of Ponte Corvo and the Duke of Cornegliano, protected by the inun dations and by the immense works of the town, wo9ld nave waited for them i and on the day agreed upon,, would hate stretched out upon the right ; and then the English army would have terminated its destinies: the Duke of Istria would during that time lave proceeded tb the island of Cadsand, On the of September there were between 'Flanders and the Scheldt and Maestricht, twenty . thousand men' 'Underarms: They were not all 'regulars, hut they • ere all commanded by men who had served ; they Mere ad volunteers, and coosisted, for the most part, of former under-otteer3, abd former soldiers wTlo had, obtained their discharges, and who had run to arms on the first signal. Lord Chatham, therefore, charged himself with - a senseless operation, and those, therefore, woo pro jected it she wrd"themselves to be as ignorant of the climate a's of the localities. Lord Chatham saved the English army' by determining . to re-embark it but every day that lie delays to execute this deter mination, heightens the tnisfortunes of his expedi tion, and if lie is culpable, it ii'not in having ordered the- retreat, it is in having so long delayed . to-re-em- , bark;, for during this delay, the English troops con tra6t fresh diseases and become infected with fresh seeds of destru6tion. Let it suffice to say, that the Emperor, when he learned that an English army had been landed upon that point, recommended -that it should not be at.:. tacked, and•that we ,should leave the destruL - tion of it to the diseases, which, in that dangerous climate; must do the enemy more injury, than the-cannon, without its costing any thing to France. The EngliSh, in linding in Flanders, did, there fore, a thing contrary to all the ,rules of war :. Ist, Because they took - for the theatre of their operations a country so unwholesome, that they had to presume that a month's stay in it would destroy their army ; that the country is covered with strong places, such as Flushing, Bergen-op-Zopm, Bathz, and Lillo; and on the side of the island of Cadsand,.the new ForfiNTapoleon, etc. &c. 2d. Because their principal obje& appeared to be to capture - the squadron, they ought to have ima gined that the squadron depended upon , Antwerp, and that Antwerp was iMpregnable, tor its cotntuu nications with France could not be cut . off,. except by immense armies, against which the, whole popu lation of France would have time to match. The result of all which is, that the English have been for so many years shut out of the Continent, that they are no longer acquainted with it. Every thiitg has changed, except their hatred against France. • With regard to the Island of Walcheren, it is said; that they Mean to keep it.' We should have Only cause to applaud this resolution for 'many rea sons The English, although they had 20,000 men in the Island of Walcheren, could not prevent . it from being attacked and re-taken ; 2d, 20,000 English, exposed to the influence of the climate, would experience so much loss, that it would be ne cessary to be continually reinforcing them ; that, in the course of the year, 80,000 men wonld as nqcqs satily become . - vlttuns to . the Climate, and it. would cost them more to guard this marsh, than to pre serve the East Indies ; but it is probable that time, would not be left for them to suffer such losses.-e-- The channel between the two Islands is so narrow, hat bombs. can . reach from the one to the ot her 26 ships of the line and the flotilla, which we have in the Scheldt, would soon make us masters of that river. It would not be forgotten, that four years ago, and with our flotilla .alone, we were masters of all the coasts ; can it be doubted, that we should be soon masters of a closed sea ? and can it, at the, same time, be supposed that the English would at tempt to keep Flushing without being masters of the Scheldt ? Besides, a flotilla is too eaog,erous d war for them. Such 1;1 wrl7, is not earriethott..with boats atone, it is VOXldlta4 kid) excellent .troops, that is to say, with means eUich, do not allow the English any advanTge over us. We well knov.e . that men exist, who, although completely jgnorant of the art of War, have, .not witl.standirg, the . silly habit of taking andendea vouringrro give counsel to those who are masters in it ; those people, yet more skilful than that public speafier who introduced the subject of war before Hannibal,, tell you, that the. Engligh, by preserving the Wand of Walcheren, will wake it.a second Gi braltar,- or another Malta ; in fiee, a commanding point, which will render them masters of Flanders, of Holland, &o. -Poor madmen ! they cannot per ceive that if the English persist in keeping the Island of Walcheren, that circumstance would be as advin iageous • for us as if they were embarrassed in the heart of Spain. In general, whenever an English army lands,on. the Coetinent, every real Frenchman °opt to re joice. ' Such a contest is completely in our favour : a nation of three millions of men cannot meet man for man a nation of forty millions. A new army, all the elements of which are in the navy, cannot keep the field against the. veteran forces w hick have conquered vuvo-thirds of Europe ; in tine, an army which can only/arrive by sea, has neither artillery, cavalry, nor equipages, at least it has a vety great in teriority in all these means, and Lord Chatham really could not mount 'more than 2000 cavalry ; well ! betbre 15 days were elapsed, the French el le6tive • cavalry, which were assembled on the banks of the Scheldt, amounted to 4000 ! BRITISH OPERATIONS IN SPAIN. Notes upon Lord Wellington's Dispatches, by the Monitear: - communicated with Sir Robert Wilson . and Cenefal Cuesta upon the importance of occupy Mk Puerto de Banos, and Puerto Perales." Lord Wellington's Letter of the litti of August, in the Gazette. We wish that Lord Wellington may 'command the English armies. From the character of the man, he will experience great catastrophes. It appears that he has neither spies nor correct information a thing astonishing ip a country in which England has so many partisans.—/Iloniteiir. " Because it was even of more importance to Its than to the Spaniards, to open a communication by the way of Palen e.t.a."— Lord Wellington's Dispatch. We are wiping to believe that these dispositions were made, for we observe in one of his dispatches, that he thought that he was opposed by only between 10,000 and i 2,000 French, and it was possible that he might march - with 20,000 men against a corps which, in his opinion, amounted only to between, 10,000 and 20,000 men. But he must have taken another decision on his march ; he must have received . information of this corps of 12,000 men really amount ing to 70,000. He had his retreat cut off, and -be was very happy to make his escape by throwing himself into impradicable - roads. General Welles ley is inexcusable in not having knuwn• that the corps of the Dukes of Dalmatia, of Elchingen, and of Treviso, aft - jaunted together to 70,000 men, and in having supposed that he was able to cover his 1t.4 wing against that formidable army by leavibg two battalions at Puerto Banos. What an instance of ignorance !—Vioniteuro • • ' " T must acknowledge that these reasons dla not appear to me sutistactory to induce him to abandon so - important a po sition as that of Talaivera."--JAord Wkllington's Dispatch. General Coesta did well to quit. Talavera'. His de struatou would have been the consequence of 'any further delay. He did very •ill to leave two divisions upon the Tagus, with 40 pieces of ordnance; he lost them, and this post, which was the rear, was a post of honour; . Gen. Wellesley ought to.havp occupied it. It is an acknowledged fad in war, that a van guard or a rear-guard, according to the operations, is the most important to defend. But General Welles ley had taken the head, and accordittg to the laudable custimi of his nation, abandoned the post of danger to the allies.-;---Itionitetir. "The enemy, who was said to have a force of 30,000 pen, &c."—l.urd Wellington's Dispatch. The English General, at the date of his letter, was, not yet informed of the amount of the French, force.. He speaks' only of the corps of the Dukes of Dalmatia and Elchiugen, and appears nut -to have known any thing of the existence of the corps of the Dike of Treviso, which consisted of 25 bat- talions of the best stoops in Europe, that had not been in action since their arrival in Spain. If Lord Wellesley often commits such Mutts as these, he may one day pay dear for them.—Moniteur. " Admitting that he left zo,ooo men in order to observe Venegas, and that in the last battle tic had lost from to to 1'2,000 men, he would still have about 25,000 znet►.".—Lord Wellington's Dispatch. - - - This is a singular calculation of Sir Arthur Wel lesley's with regard to the Ist and the 4th corps and the reserve. The Ist corps consists of 36 battalions, the 4th of 30, the reserve of 20 battalions, and the cavalry of 40 squadrons. Sir Arthur was therefore surrounded by 170 battalions, and from - 80 to 90 squadrons, and he relied upon the conquest of Madrid with 20 ) 000 men. We do not speak of the Spaniards, they may be reckoned for a great deal in order to plunder isolated individuals, even to. defend them ; selves behind a wall, but they must be counted for hardly any thing in a pitched baffle, as the English may have convinced themselves. Although Sir Ar thur Wellesley, in addition to his 20,000 men, had the army of Lord Chatham, which is gone to be swallowed up in bogs of the island of Walcheren, his expedition would have turned out only to his shame, contusion, and overthrow. It the English wish to contend for Spain against France, they must laud an army, if not equal to that of France, at least two-thirds as strong, that is to say, at the lowest calculation,. 150,000 men, for the Spaniards Cannot be'reckoned at above one-third in a pitched battle; and nothing can be more -advant i.ageous to France than the English involving them selves in a war. by land ; for, instead of conquering (''England by sea, we shall vanquish it on the Conti nent. Such a contest describes in a wonderful man ' ner the- men by whom the Cabinet of London is directed. _ Theinistocles advised the Athenians to abandon the citadels and to take re►uge on board their ships. It were to be wished that the Cabinet may persist, as they have commenced, in their project of desert ing their ships, and of thro themselves upon the Continent. We may then torctei the humi►ia tiot of England and the tonclilsion of Peace betote the exp►rat►on of one year. Before tine year is elapsed, the English, whatever efforts they may make, u• driven out of the Pe ninsula, and the Imperial Eagle will fly upon the fortresses of Lisbon.--Moniteur. . "I was of opinion that it wtis prudent to fall back to the bridge of Arzobispo, and to take a definitive position on the Tagus " - Lord wellington's Dispatch. - - We will. not continue these notes: it would be insulting our -readers. This falsehood of Lord Wel lington's dispatch is self evident. croba i iii6o.Sir Arthur, without being acquaint ed with the •force of'the enemy who was opposed to him, without being provided with what consitutes an army advanced as far as Talavera. The idea of entering Madrid turned his brain; he took the French army for an army of sepoys. He arrived at Talavera' with between 25 anii 26,000 men : he was there joined by 30,000 Spaniards and with these two armies united, he attempted to march against Math id. The, Duke of Belluno manoeuvred properly in ,order to draw him towards it ; he formed a junction with the fourth corps and the reserve, and the King at their head marched so meet the enemy. The Duke Dalmatia, with forces which were yet more considerable than those of the King, marched.against his rear. Sir Arthur Wellesley could not disembarrass himself otherwise than by separately betting the two armies. The Ist and 4th corps furnished • him with that opportunity, for, without waiting the arrival of the three corps commanded by the Duke of Dalmatia,. they 'attacked. The English fought well ; .victory at, Talavvra was claimed by both sides. The loss of the English was much more considerable than ours : the French artillery was more numerous: It ap pears that by a series of faults the French could not carry the left position, but that the English were beaten every time that they attempted to advance against the French. When the 70,000 who were commanded , by tbe-Duke of Daltuntia were at Ma , cencia, Sir Arthur Wellesley imagined that there • were only 10,000 troops, and in consequence formed the most ridiculous combinations. He discovered the folly of his calculations, his extretneimprudence, and was fortunate enough, by the protedion of the Tagus, to escape into Portugal with his infantry.— What would then have been the case, if, manceuvr ing according the principles of war, the French had not given battle until all the army was assembled Sir Arthdr says, that the want of the means of car- - riage prevented his tnarchina to Madrid. What would have been the case it he had marched to Madrid, and if tine Duke of Dalmatia had posted hitnself between him and the Tagus ? , He and his army would have been [parched, to France. He sacrificed brave troops through presumption, and the ignorance of what a General ought not to unacquainted with. • This expedition a good .deal resembles that of. .Gctieral Moore to the month of November last.= Bpt 4weral Moore - was prudent he retreated More . speeclil and althougo his loss was enormous, half of his army returned ao England, without their lug gage, Sm.' Like Genet . rl Moore, General Welies ley abandoned his ho i pitals, and his artillery : he arrived in Portugal with half his army. At this moment he,has not under arms 18,,000 of the 40,000 .men who 'sailed from the ports of ..Englandilloni tett,. The Munitgur of the 3titil contains another article- on the niiiicar eve—as in *Spain. Atter giving the following intelligence from an English Paper— The whole English army has (ratted Spain. Sir Arthur Wellesley has his head-qu•oters at ilvas.--(t.). It is said this retreat has been occasioned by the want of provisions, —(z.l The •f!'rench have returned to Niadrid.'' The official journal subjoins these notes. (1) This is certainly a great success, and the Eng lish people owe much graiitude to Lord - Wellesley for having destroyed -a pArt of their troops, for.hay. ing compromised the glory cif:their arms, for having fled GO leagues, pursued sword in band ; in fine, for having abandoned their allies. The King.. of England has rewarded these great services by con. ferring on General Wellesley the title of Lord Wel lington, Viscount Talavera. Why does be not give 'likewise to Lord Chatham the title of Duke of Wal. cheren ? This reward would be as well merhed as that which has been granted to Sir Arthur. We :hope that the English General, who, in the coursed' this , winter, will be driven into the Tagus, and forced to evacuate Portugal, will receive the title of the Duke of Lisbon. Thus the French will find in the genealogy. of the English Generals, the list of their successes. It is impossible to find a worse excuse. What ! was it in the middle of Spain, when the English army had behind it Seville, Lisbon, and the Bel, that its retreat was occasioned by the want of provisions ? It is impossible to sport more wills the public credulity. 'The English fled from the French bayonets, and the French troops, far frtAi returning immediately to Madrid, pursued these fugitiveS ass tar as the heats would permit. CAEN, SEP:2.—In the night between the gth and loth of Sept. about two o'clock, 'a patiole, con sisting of five Gens-d'Armes, commanded by Lieu tenant Forssori,igoing their rounds, met, near the shore, about three leaves to the north of Caen, two men on horseback, riding towards. the sea side.— Being called upon to declare . who they were, they , replied, by firing their pistols, by which the horse of the Leiutenant was killed. A battle commenced, but as it was very dark, oneof the individuals made his es cape; the other was taken, atter being stunned by, a blow with the but end art musket. He wa4 armed with an English carabine, and two English pistols. From the papers found upon him, it appears incon testably that he was an English spy. F. um the lets ters which - he had in his pOcket; and the marks , , upon his linen, it appeared that he was a Reigaitti who had beeti a long time sought for. He was, re colleated by several of the inhabitants of Rouen; his name is Robert Francois d'ActiA, formerly chief of. a band of Chonans.' MAILS. ~~ Azt a z Cottenburigh, t Dublin. Due-1 COttenburgli, 'Cadiz, a Waterfor4. PRICL 01 STOCks Tills DAY AY TWeI,..VIC ‘ o'cLogic.. Conwls THE SUN. SOLZM QInS racial FALSAJAC AVASAI ? LONDON, .~r.-~^ WEDNESDAY; OCTOEER 1, 18(24. Lord CASTLEREAGH will attend at the Lcvee thic day, to. resign the Seals of his °dice, but, Mr. DUN' DAs, will not kiss hands till next Wednesday. Mr. CANNING is also expeded at th.e Levee this day, fot the purpose of delivering in his resignation. In another part. of our Paper will be fonnd some long Extraas from the Moniteurs, containin4 servations upon the articles published in the Landon . Papers, relative to the War between France aOd Austri . a, the Expedition to the Scheldt, and the conduct of Lurd WewNoTori in Spain, We, have no room at present for remarking upon these Pa pers. They are evidently written with a view to cie , culation,not in France but in this Country. It will 40 seen, however, that Lord CHATHAM Is entirety ex culpated from the charge of tardiness in his opera tions at Walcheren. The best answer to the ob.. seryations upon the conduct of Lord WELLINGTON . in Spain is, the jaa of the army remaining in per fed security. To appear rash, without the tatal con.. sequences of rashness, We take to be the highest proof of skill and judgment in a Commander. This morning a Guttenburgh Mail arrived, but it brings no news. The terms of the Peace between Sweden and Russia were not known at Gottenburgh when the Packet sailed. We also received this morning Spanish Papers to the 15th ult. extraets from which will be found in a subsequent Column. Tuesday morning his MAJESTY, the Duke of CUMBERLAND, Princesses AUGUSTA and SOPHIA, accompanied by Lord WALiINGHAM, Lady ELI, General FITZROY, and Colonel TAYLOR, 100 k their usual airing on horseback in the Great Park, Wind' sor, t►ll twelve o'clock. . 'The QuEgs and Princess ELIZABETH rode to Frogmore Lodge, and afterwards walked in the Gardens. Yesterday the Earl of BoltvasT transacted basi ne4s at the Board of Trade, supposed to be for the last time, previous to ins'being s\,vo!n in this day one of his Majesty's Secretaries of State. . Yesterday, Sir DAVID DUNDAS held a public day at the Commander in Chief's.Officev in -the Horse guards, and gave audiences to a number of Military Officers. Yesterday Mr. - PROODBIAN, one of the King's Messengers, arrived, in Downing -street, with ditr patches from Spain. We understand that they are .Marquts WEI,LESLEY. Tneir contents have •• not tran sp i r e d. The LORD MAYOR has called a meeting of his Ward, for the purpose of extending benefit to Ole poor belonging to it, on the day of toe Jubilee, by the distribution of Bread, Bret, Porter, Coeis, ai Potatoes, and by . a suescr.p;ion fur tti,l releose 4 4 . such of them as may Ls t;utiti;Jeci tot small dents-